It sets up an "us vs. them" dichotomy, a nice way of manipulating the masses by banking on fear and hatred. It's one of the simplest methods of pulling humans apart from one another: homogenize a specific set of values for the group while viciously ostracizing anybody who deviates from the strict standards. It breeds fear, contempt, intolerance, and cruelty. The fact that a US president supported such a mentality is abhorrent.

You saw with Bush and now you see it with Obama. Until politics in the US has a drastic housecleaning, it will continue. Our elected "representatives" use this argument in order to stop people from think it through themselves and perhaps thinking of alternative solutions that don't line their bank account.

Sure some issues are boolean but there are few complex issues that can ever be treated that way.

I completely agree with some of the replies here. The statement forces a predisposition to polarized viewpoints while excluding any possibility of partial agreement or total apathy. Some might argue that apathy falls into the "against us" category, but I'd disagree. If Willie Von Hoobstank in Wisconsin wants to remodel his house to resemble an Escher drawing, I can easily be quite apathetic on the subject without being against him.